Rotational bearings on the basis of plain bearings are used in various applications. It is common to have a plain bearing of a rotational element, e.g. a gear wheel, on a bearing element, usually in form of a bearing bolt. An example for this is the bearing of a planetary gear on a planetary gear bolt or on a planetary gearbox. Planetary gearboxes are used in applications of a most varied array of fields. Increasingly, large-sized planetary gearboxes are also built, such as e.g. for the use in wind power stations. In particular for suchlike large gear units, the durability of the gear unit is considered of great importance, since a simple exchange of the gearbox components cannot be carried out in a simple manner.
In a known plain bearing of a planetary gear on a bearing bolt, which is arranged on a planetary gear carrier, a radial bearing sleeve is mounted on the bearing bolt via a form-fit and/or force-type connection. This bearing sleeve presents a first radial bearing surface, on which the planetary gear is mounted via a second radial bearing surface in such a way that it can slide on it. At least the radial bearing sleeve can be designed with a wear protection coating on its outer periphery.
For the axial bearing of the planetary gear, which can be slightly moved in axial direction, usually two axial bearing washers are arranged as separate elements, which are coated with a wear protection layer at least on one of their end faces. The axial bearing washers are firmly attached to the planetary carrier, e.g. via screw connections. The planetary gear runs against the axial bearing washers with its end faces.
The production of such an application-specific or user-specific planetary gear carrier is highly complex and very costly. The integration of a plain bearing solution of the described type requires a geometrical modification at the planetary gear carrier in order to integrate the axial bearing washers into the area of the resting shoulders, which is complex in its constructional implementation, in particular in view of the screw fitting of the axial bearing washers in order to attach these.